Our last day in Almaty

Hello everyone, it’s Laura! I can’t believe that today is the last day of our trip. Just a few days ago, we all arrived here in a daze after traveling, feeling like we’d known each other for years and not hours. The past week in Almaty, Kazakhstan, has been a whirlwind of new encounters, experiences, and learning. Some of the most significant aspects of our trip have been the volunteer work that we’ve done at Hesed, the JDC-sponsored Jewish community welfare organization that serves Almaty, and the cultural exchanges that we’ve had with our Kazakhstani “peers” (aka. cultural colleagues/comrades/counterparts). Yesterday, my workgroup had our most poignant experience volunteering with Hesed clients. Here’s what happened…

After a long drive to the outskirts of Almaty, we arrived at our clients’ apartment. One of the Kazakhstanis in my workgroup knew the area and explained that our clients lived in a neighborhood outside of the city that was developed during the height of the Soviet era. She explained that the housing developments in the area were once very nice but they have fallen into disrepair since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The apartment we visited was very old but seemed cozy when we walked in. The couple we visited, both of whom are in their 80s, have been married for 60 years! They are both frail and physically impaired so their ability to get outside of their four-room apartment is limited. To make matters worse, they have a daughter who lives in Russia and an adult son who passed away recently so they don’t have a lot of opportunity to see family. Until that point we had two other experiences going into Hesed clients’ homes to clean, do small repairs, gardening, and provide companionship etc., so we felt like experts as we trudged into their apartment wielding buckets and brooms. My first impression of the clients was not great—unlike the other encounters we’ve had—as they barked out a list of cleaning tasks (I’m learning that Russian sometimes sounds harsher to non-speakers than the actual message being conveyed) for us and then quickly went into another room and shut the door so we could clean without bothering them. Undeterred, we got to work vacuuming, dusting, and washing the floors, ceilings, and doors. As a side note, “cleaning culture” in Kazakhstan is different from the States—no Windex and Swiffers here, we used rags and newspapers instead.

As we cleaned, our lists of tasks got longer (we decided it was because we were doing a good job!). We were exhausted but proud when we maneuvered all of the couple’s furniture out of their small, crowded living room to wash the floor and beat out the rug. When we finally finished cleaning, the uncomfortable mood changed immediately. The couple suddenly became extremely friendly and warm. I felt relieved and thought that I had been too quick to judge them and their behavior. For whatever reason, everyone felt a lot more comfortable together. The six of us crowded around the kitchen table with the couple and the Hesed caseworker, enormous platters of watermelon appeared out of nowhere, and the elderly couple began telling us the story of their lives in Almaty. Both of them had moved to Kazakhstan as children when their families were evacuated from other parts of the Former Soviet Union. They met when they both worked in the rail industry; he as an engineer, and she as some sort of operator. I found it really interesting that they both spoke so wistfully of the “good life” they enjoyed under Soviet rule. Understandably, life became much harder for them in the years following the collapse and the social/community services they received changed significantly. At one point, the man left the room and returned with an old crumbling shoebox of family photos. We enjoyed passing them around and listening to the (translated!) stories of each photo. I felt a great sense of warmth and community looking at their pictures because they reminded me a lot of old photos of my own family. In a sense, I felt like they could have been my distant relatives. I was especially touched when they asked someone in our group to contact a distant relative of theirs living in Brooklyn to tell them that we visited their home in Almaty and that they were well.

Overall, working with Hesed clients in their homes has been a really eye-opening and poignant part of this experience even though it’s certainly been upsetting and frustrating at times. I feel like we’ve gotten a real sense of the way the elderly live here and understand the need for the development of community welfare and social services firsthand. I’m off to go participate in our “goodbye” talent show and enjoy the rest of our last day here…see you soon!